'Is this the way to Guateque?'

When it comes to quaint colonial towns and villages, Colombia has a plethora to offer. Indeed, you could pretty much spend your whole life going from one to another, exploring the idiosyncrasies of each.

Some say that there's not a big difference between them. Once you've seen the "big" ones — big as regards reputation that is — such as Barichara and Villa de Leyva, that's enough. The rest are just poor imitations.

Impressive setting: The town of Machetá.

For sure, if you're on a short stay and lacking 'algunas palabras' in Spanish, it's probably best to go to the spots that are more renowned and better equipped for tourists and tourism.

Towns less visited

From a personal perspective, while I've nothing against the more popular towns, after over eight years in this country, heading to a place where I'll be seen as just another tourist isn't very appealing.
 

It's why over the last number of years I've opted for destinations that most non-Colombians, and even some Colombians, don't bother visiting or haven't even heard of.

Now, before you say it, yes, in such tourist-light towns and villages I also stand out (although, some have said, before I open my mouth and speak Irish-accented Spanish, that I could pass as a Paisa. Perish the thought!), but it's not in a tourist way. It's more a case of, 'Oh, what brings you here?'

'Machetá, the golden gateway to the Tenza Valley'

So it was with that modus operandi, together with the fact that after five months of not having left Bogotá any place would have sufficed, that I opted for the town of Machetá, an hour bus ride north from the capital.

My experience of rolling into such small towns on a whim is that there's always very reasonably priced accommodation to be found.

This wasn't quite so in Machetá. There were three options, two of them upwards of 50,000 pesos (just over 13 euros, it's all relative) for a room for the night and they weren't for turning on their prices. It was a case of third time lucky with La Playita, a recently opened panadería which also functions as a hotel. I got a nice en suite room there for 30,000 pesos (eight euros).

As for the town itself, the 'Golden gateway to the Tenza Valley' so it goes, it certainly has a very picturesque setting and an agreeable climate for a Northern European, set at an altitude of 2,000 metres — that is to say slightly lower and thus warmer than Bogotá but not overbearingly so, while there's no real need for additional layers at night.

The trademark activity for this mini-escape, as it often is, was walking/hiking the hills around the towns — I say towns as after Machetá I spent a walking-packed 30 hours or so in Guateque, 23 kilometres to the south-east in the Boyacá department.

Basically, if there are hills/mountains around the town, and in this part of Colombia it's a given, I always like to ascend them for a panoramic view of the surrounds.

On this front, while there's an alluring hill overlooking Machetá, the bushy vegetation obscures the view. Hiking further up the mountains for a couple of hours didn't bring better results. It was good exercise all the same.

Three of a kind

Guateque, birthplace of the infamous emerald tsar Víctor Carranza, on the other hand, is, at the risk of overstating it, a hillwalker's dream. The northern point in a triangle of two neighbouring settlements — Guayatá and Somondoco — each delightfully nestled on plateaus overlooking the valley, for a town that appears nondescript on arrival, it pleasantly surprised.

Rewarding: Walking the hills all around Guateque.

Indeed, had I heeded the advice of the receptionist at the well-kept Hotel Tu Refugio (23,000 pesos for an en suite room), I wouldn't have even given Guateque a chance. Having just paid for my room, Monica suggested that I take a bus to Guayatá, 'a much prettier town', and come back in the evening. I decided against it.

On the first day, I stumbled across a mostly unpaved loop road up the hills that gives lovely views of the three aforementioned towns. Motor traffic does use it so it's not quite 'at one with nature', but thankfully it's largely peaceful.

Mount Monsignor

On the second day, taking advice from some locals, I walked to the much smaller, sleepier village of Sutatenza, three kilometres to the north. The idea was to grab a coffee there and then stroll back to Gauteque for the bus back to Bogotá.

Again, though, my penchant for seeking out views saw me head up the only road going towards the hills. Google maps told me it would lead to a dead-end. The road did but there was a path that kept going up, so I followed it. And followed it, until I met a local, a man in his late 60s I'd say, slowly stepping it out to his home, replete with an infected, swollen foot for good measure. Some goer, but a pilgrimage he doesn't think twice about. He has no other choice I guess. 

I asked him if I kept on going up would I eventually get to a point where I'd have a good view of the valley below. He then began to tell me, in a way where he seemed to expect me to know, about the 'famous' Monsignor José Joaquín Salcedo Guarín who, starting in the late 1940s, used to broadcast a 'world-renowned' radio show atop the very hill we were ascending. 'Now there's not even a plaque to honour his memory up there.' Men have been honoured for less, haven't they? 

'From a high, the way back to Guateque looked straightforward'

The old man accompanied me for a bit, even going further than his own house. Considering the state of his foot and slow pace, I tried to tell him I'd figure out the path on my own, but he was having none of it.

We eventually parted ways when the way back to Guateque appeared much clearer. He told me there was no point going back to Sutatenza, which of course made sense.

However, as clear as the route looked from a high, I took a wrong turn and ended back in Sutatenza. Oh well. It wasn't a major detour and it did come with two beers along the way courtesy of a somewhat mysterious emerald dealer, a man reluctant to give me his name even after having given me his mobile number.

He eventually introduced himself as Raul. Maybe he's related to Víctor Carranza and didn't want this random foreigner knowing? A couple of drunken folk in Guateque the night before were less coy about telling me they were cousins of the 'great baron'.

With that little unplanned adventure, my badly needed mini-escape from Bogotá came to an end. It gave another timely reminder that despite their superficial similarities, each Colombian town has its own story to tell. We’ll find out Guayatá's and Somondoco's in due course.
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'To the marketing agency, Robin!'

"Help, help! We need more help to put out this fire!" "Don't worry, I'm here." "Great!" 

You lend a hand, doing the best you can to quench the intense flames. Then, the person who pleaded for your assistance, getting word from somebody trapped inside the fire, informs you, your face frizzled, dripping with sweat all over, physically and mentally exhausted, that you're not putting out the fire properly. "What?! Do it yourself, so."

Marketing agencies: Modern-day slavery of sorts? (Image from web.)

'Can't someone else do it?'

That, more or less, sums up the world of the marketing agency. In the analogy, the person caught inside the fire is the client. The one asking for your help, the marketing executive at the agency, usually just as frustrated as you are.

For such an integral part of a company's day-to-day business — how it portrays itself to the public, to both its actual and potential customers — that the powers that be see fit to outsource marketing to third parties is a head-scratcher for me. A case of, so it seems, 'we don't know how to sell ourselves, so we'll get a group of relative strangers to do it for us, people not directly part of our organisation.'

'Never mind a revolving door, there might as well not be a door at all.'

If I'm going to be selling someone else's product or service, I at least need to feel that I am part of it in some way. My topsy-turvy experience in a marketing agency is of largely demotivated, weary staff, particularly those doing the donkey work such as copywriting, design and graphics.

The turnover rate at the team I had been part of where, after over a year, only 10 of the original 40-plus team remain, is a representation of that. Never mind a revolving door, there might as well not be a door at all. Of course, there are a number of factors at play, some of which aren't exclusive to marketing agencies.

For one, here in Colombia, there seems to be a general top-down belief across all sectors of the economy that being at work trumps actually doing work. Clock in the hours, bums on seats, ensure the office or whatever has the appearance of work about it. Wonderful. One important result of this: inefficiency. Another not-insignificant one is increased energy costs for the company when you have staff just counting down the hours.

Then there's the client. Word has it that not all are the same. Some are actually fairly organised, have a clear vision of what they want, plan accordingly and are thus relatively pleasant to work with. That is to say, not all come across as dysfunctional.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the company to which I've had to devote the lion's share of my time in this gig, Avianca. Just my luck that I, um, jumped on board with a crowd that appears particularly chaotic when it comes to its marketing.

'Agencies shouldn't yield so willingly to a client's unreasonable demands.'

After a few rather turbulent years (yes, I meant that), things might be looking a little smoother for the airline these days as it celebrated 100 years in operation in December. The arrival of Dutch 'saviour' Anko van der Werff in July 2019 was seen in some quarters as the start of a brighter future.

We'll certainly give him time to put a bit of order on things, to see that "northern European efficiency" click into gear. (That quote is taken from an interview I had with Mr van der Werff. It will be our next podcast episode. He definitely talks a good talk anyway.)

Yes-man agencies

Now, not all the blame can be laid at the door of Avianca's marketing guys for the way it operates. Management at the agency shouldn't be so yielding to their every confused, disorderly demand. Give an inch and all that. Yet, the client must be kept onside at all costs, that's the agency mantra. If not, there's always another waiting in the wings. They're all undercutting each other in a race to the bottom.

That's not to say a race to the bottom in terms of quality from the agencies, it's more one where wages are paltry and work demands excessive. For those at the coalface, this usually translates into burnout and stress with relatively little in return.

When it's your own baby so to put it, then you tend to be more inclined to go that extra mile. Doing somebody else's dirty work, right in the thick of it, removed from the very receiver of your done-in-good-faith deeds, doesn't fill one with much enthusiasm.

Put out your own fire, guys.
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Listen to The Colombia Cast podcast here.
Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan - The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".